SAEED AZIZ: My working life started in the early eighties (1981), and
my career evolved with the global money and capital markets in which I was
actively involved as a trader/dealer/specialist until my return home in the mid
nineties. I had extensive exposure to the global foreign exchange and fixed
income markets and some exposure to the global equities markets, as I worked
with bank treasuries at BCCI, and Citibank. I got involved extensively with the
derivative products ensuing from these markets and managed proprietary positions
in a variety of financial instruments. Since my return home about 15 years ago,
I have remained involved with the money and capital markets, albeit mainly
locally, initially with a brokerage firm (InvestCap), where I was a founding
director, and later with an asset management company (Askari Investments), where
I was CEO.

I went to school at Aitcheson College
and St. Anthony's in Lahore, followed by Habib Public School in Karachi, and
ended up doing a high school equivalence in Romania. I graduated in Business
Administration from the University of Montana in the US.

PAGE: WHY HAS THE SAVINGS TO GDP RATIO
GONE DOWN IN PAKISTAN?

SAEED AZIZ: I am not an economist, but have naturally followed the
causes and effects of economic events due to the nature of the work I have been
involved in. As far as savings to GDP ratio is concerned, empirical studies have
determined three major variables that affect this ratio, and these are:

i) GDP
growth rateii) Remittancesiii) Government
current expenditure

Since these variables have been
constrained, so too has the savings rate. However, we are seeing a healthy surge
in remittances lately, leading to some hope of improvement. I also personally
feel that the extremely high banking spreads in Pakistan disincentivize savings
to an extent.

PAGE: WHAT KIND OF IMPACT HAS POOR
SAVINGS LEFT ON THE ECONOMY?

SAEED AZIZ: There is an extremely strong correlation between savings
and investment. A low saving rate leads to a lower investment rate and the cycle
continues as it has for several decades in Pakistan.

PAGE: HOW CAN SAVINGS TO GDP RATIO BE
INCREASED?

SAEED AZIZ: The obvious solution would appear to be to increase GDP
growth through an increase in government direct expenditures. One must realize,
however that this is easier said than done. Perhaps, a more equitable and
broader based tax regime might be the key to enabling the government to do this.

COUNTRY

SAVINGS TO GDP RATIO (2010)

India

34pc

China

53pc

Iran

38pc

Nepal

34pc

Afghanistan

28pc

Oman

41pc

Saudi Arabia

35pc

Sri Lanka

22pc

Pakistan

14pc

PAGE: HOW WOULD YOU COMPARE OUR
NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES WITH PAKISTAN IN TERMS OF SAVINGS TO GDP RATIO?

SAEED AZIZ: I would like to add that many newly industrialized nations
started off on a similar footing to ours but have, through improved governance
and sound policies, made giant strides in their economies, while we remain
constrained by the vice like grip of a perpetual status quo.